The tobacco budworm and other Lepidopteran insects are serious pests of cotton fruit (squares and bolls). Moderate or heavy infestations can dramatically reduce lint yields.
The tobacco budworm, Heliothis virescens, and cotton bollworm, Helicoverpa zea, have developed resistance to major classes of insecticides used to control them, as discussed in Martin et al., "Effects of Selected Synergists on Insecticide Toxicity in Tobacco Budworm (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in Laboratory and Field Studies," J. Econ. Entomol. 90(3)723-731 (1997), Kanga et al., "Tolerance to Cypermethrin and Endosulfan in Field Populations of the Bollworm (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) from Texas," J. Econ. Entomol. 89(3)583-589 (1996), Kanga et al., "Monitoring for Resistance to Organophosphorus, Carbamate, and Cyclodiene Insecticides in Tobacco Budworm Adults (Lepidopteria: Noctuidae)," J. Econ. Entomol. 88(5)1144-1149 (1995), and Elzen et al., "Resistance to Pyrethroids, Carbamate, and Organophosphate Insecticides in Field Populations of Tobacco Budworms (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in 1990," J. Econ. Entomol. 85(6):2064-2072 (1992).
New and better control alternatives are always needed to maintain crop production and provide alternative chemistry for rotation purposes, as discussed in Laws, Delta Agricultural Digest, Intertec Publishing (1998).
While the compositions in the art have provided some control of Lepidopteran pests of cotton, there has been a need in the art for significantly greater control.